Customers of collapsed letting agent unlikely to see a penny back

Tuesday 8th May 2012

Landlords and tenants who are owed money by a collapsed letting agent are highly unlikely ever to see a penny of it.

Joseph Newman, in Canterbury, went into liquidation after shutting up shop, owning a total of £413,321.

Joint liquidator Andrew Fisher, of Fisher Partners, said that of this sum, around £350,000 is owed to landlords and tenants. So far, 70 landlords and 249 tenants have been identified as having lost money, which appears to involve deposits.

Fisher said that the firm’s total assets available for creditors is £8,000, and that the liquidators’ investigation into its affairs is likely to take 18 months to two years.

Joseph Newman does not appear to have been a member of any of the trade bodies, and had no requirement to hold Client Money Protection insurance.

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Added by Paul C on 2012-06-12 12:33:16

I was a tenant of Joseph Newman Letting Agents. I gave my deposit to them. When I met Joseph (Joe), I have to say he looked very tanned - he said he had just come back from Portugal.

So mine and everyone else's money has probably paid for a nice villa in the sunshine. This man should be brought back here and face the people that he conned.

On top of all this, HW Fisher are incompetent in the extreme. No-one is talking to anyone else, I did not receive a liquidators initial report and only when I contacted them yesterday (June 11th 2012) did they know who I was. Shambolic.

Added by Peter Lassman on 2012-05-08 11:48:39

Dear Mr Stonehenge I do see the wider picture, I am a regulated Landlord and a member of the NLA, all my properties are Student Accredited, BUT I had over a £1ooo with Joseph Newman. when he found me a Tenant in 2004 Deposits were not Lodged so i had no reason not to allow him to hold the money and was assured by him that the money was safe, whether or not i could Legally have insisted for him to return or Lodge my money when the Deposit Lodging system came into place i do not know, still it's too late now . I was told by Joseph Newman at the time that my money was safe, it was my first Rental Property sio i had no reason not to Believe him. One thing i will say i find it strange that Joseph Newman has now gone bust just as all Tenancies are about to be protected? i thinkl it's a scam and Joseph Newman has had problems for a long time and been living of Deposits and hopefully the Investigators if they do their job correctly will find this out, yours Peter Lassman

Added by stonehenge on 2012-05-08 10:24:13

I have little sympathy with landlords who use unregulated agents and instruct mainly on commission rates.

They fail to see the wider picture.

Added by stonehenge on 2012-05-08 10:24:00

I have little sympathy with landlords who use unregulated agents and instruct mainly on commission rates.

They fail to see the wider picture.

Added by Richard Arblaster on 2012-05-08 08:32:24

If that's the case, if this is his website:

http://www.josephnewman.co.uk/

Someone should tell his web hosting company to pull the site.

Added by Gareth on 2012-05-08 08:22:55

What was the name of the agency that Joseph Newman ran and when did it go out of business? Recently or is this an update article on something that happened a long time ago?

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